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(JTA) — Zachary Ottenstein didn’t count on to bond along with his dad over chess and traditional rock throughout his journey house from Florida on the finish of Passover.
However when Ottenstein switched his cellphone on after the vacation ended final evening, it blew up: Fort Lauderdale was flooded and flights out of the airport — together with their flight to New York — had been canceled. Town was underwater after the rainiest day in its historical past.
He consulted along with his dad, Matthew: That they had loved their Passover week at a resort, however they needed to get house in time for Shabbat the next night.
“We actually didn’t fancy staying one other two days and discovering a spot to remain and meals,” he mentioned.
Their story was not distinctive: Households from throughout the US who go for Passover getaway packages within the Sunshine State discovered themselves stranded in Fort Lauderdale after the rains Thursday. Vacationers to the airport reported seeing the headlights of automobiles sitting deep in water, accumulating since a few month’s value of rain fell in an hour on Wednesday.
Historically observant Jews, who don’t drive or fly in planes on Shabbat, confronted the prospect of both making it house earlier than Friday at sunset, or spending no less than two extra days — till Saturday at dusk — within the Fort Lauderdale space, with out the institutional infrastructure that had enabled their Passover holidays.
At first, the Ottensteins appeared for different flights, increasing the radius outward from Fort Lauderdale with every search. Lastly, they discovered a barely workable possibility.
“There have been no flights actually apart from one flight out of Tampa that was going to Chicago and from there, there was a flight to New York,” Ottenstein mentioned.
They booked the flight, rented a automobile, left Fort Lauderdale at 10:30 p.m. and rolled into Tampa at 3 a.m. — proper in time for the 5 a.m. flight to Chicago.
Others opted to remain down south for Shabbat. Mendel Fayershteyn, a Chabad rabbi within the metropolis, put out the phrase in the neighborhood that he was prepared to help any households stranded on the airport.
Because it seems, there have been a handful — about six or seven, he mentioned in an interview — and he delivered kosher meals to them and located properties for them to remain in by Sunday, when the airport is predicted to be again to capability. One of many properties was his personal — he decamped to his in-laws’ and handed the keys of his home to one of many airport households.
The reduction he administered to the stranded Jews, Fayershteyn mentioned, was principally psychological.
“It was extra like, folks had been panicking, it wasn’t like an emergency,” he mentioned in an interview. “I might say it was extra therapeutic only for the folks to listen to it’s going to be OK.”
Fayershteyn discovered to coordinate reduction throughout years of hurricane seasons: He put that have to make use of, gathered turbines and kosher meals, and helped folks discover shelter. He additionally helped reunite folks with automobiles that had floated away within the flooding.
“The principle factor we had been doing as we speak is simply serving to folks getting their automobiles again,” he mentioned.
As quickly as Passover ended on Thursday evening, Fayershteyn bought the phrase out on Fb that he was providing assist to Shabbat-observant Jews.
“Keep secure, and in case you are in want of help please don’t hesitate to succeed in out,” the message mentioned. “Scorching Shabbat meals going out tomorrow for people who want, please DM us.”
Ottenstein additionally took to Fb, posting a selfie of himself and his dad within the automobile after midnight. “What do you do when Fort Lauderdale airport will get closed and also you need to get house for shabbos?” he wrote. “Clearly you drive by the evening to Tampa to make an early morning flight house.”
Ottenstein, 24, a schoolteacher on Staten Island, and his dad, 60, a legislation librarian in suburban New Rochelle, crammed the time up.
“The world chess championships are occurring and my dad’s been very into it. He can discuss for hours about that sort of factor,” he mentioned. “And we bond loads over music. My dad’s an enormous 60s, 70s traditional rock type of man.”
Zachary did the driving. “My dad doesn’t like driving at evening,” he mentioned. “No rest room breaks, no stopping for meals. The adrenaline kicked in. It was the type of plan that was so loopy, it labored.”
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